1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer controlled procurement services. More particularly, the present invention relates to the management of contract labor by integrating a contractor timecard system and a purchase order procurement system.
2. Related Art
Computer controlled software systems presently available for the management of contract labor generally are stand alone, separate, computer programs that process only timecard related information. These “timecard” processing systems are not integrated with purchase order procurement systems (e.g., for generating purchase requisitions). Purchase order procurement systems are used today to facilitate the purchase, management and acquisition of “hard” items, e.g., goods such as hardware, materials, equipment, etc. However, purchase order procurement systems do not process timecard related information, e.g., regarding contract labor, services, etc.
As a result, companies typically engage two separate procurement programs and systems in order to support timecard processing for services and purchase order procurement for goods.
However, the use of separate computer systems and separate computer programs to perform both computerized purchase order procurement and timecard processing has a number of inherent disadvantages. First, separate procurement software programs are disadvantageous from an expense point of view because two different software programs need to be purchased and maintained by software professionals. Version updates and system troubleshooting are made more difficult because different programs need to be addressed differently.
The management of two separate software systems for performing timecard processing and purchase order procurement typically requires a doubled effort regarding training, software maintenance, etc. Different software programs typically have different input and output formats and have different operational and procedural requirements. Therefore, the user is burdened with the tasks of learning and remembering different operating requirements and formats to perform procurement. The techniques and data formats used for timecard processing on one system may be totally incompatible with the techniques and data formats used to perform purchase order generation and approval with respect to another system. As such, the use of multiple software programs leads to a decrease in system efficiency.
Moreover, the use of multiple software programs to perform timecard processing and purchase order procurement may in fact require additional computer memory or hardware, and may even require additional computer peripherals.